Abstract:
Traditional evaluation methods for social science academic books rely heavily on frequency-based indicators such as citation counts and library holdings. However, evaluating citation content offers a way to address limitations such as restricted data sources and high evaluation costs, thereby contributing to the improvement of academic book assessment systems in the social sciences. Using the 2019
Annual Report on China's Highly Cited Books as a data source, this study selects the five most frequently cited books in the fields of management and sociology as its research subjects. It analyzes the citation content characteristics within the citing documents and explores patterns of citation behavior in both disciplines. The findings show that the citation intensity of academic books in both fields was predominantly once, with the citation sentiment mostly being neutral; citation motivations are primarily categorized as "latest information" and "relevance". Although citation intensity is relatively similar between the two fields, there are notable differences in citation placement, sentiment, and motivation. Furthermore, the methodological framework developed in this study represents a refinement of full-text analysis approaches for academic book evaluation. It aligns with the evolving practices of scientific evaluation and offers valuable insights for assessing academic books in the social sciences.